Oracle Chronicles
by Korean Boron-Paper Stars
Summary: On the day of their caravan’s departure, Oracle gets more than what they’ve bargained for when their caravan is stolen. Now, all hopes ride on the four idiot warrior hijackers. In progress
1. Chapter 1

Oracle Chronicles

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles or anything related to it. But I do own my original characters.

A/N: Another try at revising this story! Not too many things will change, though. I just need to clean it up and think of a better ending for this story! So, anyway, enjoy!

ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΪΫ

Chapter 1

The young lilty let out a war cry as she brought her spear down on the goblin's head furiously. The monster stepped back and shook its head dizzily, dazed by the impact. The female lilty didn't wait for the goblin to recover and whacked it over and over again with her spear, refusing to pause even once. The goblin was weakening tremendously, but the lilty showed no signs of getting ready to deliver the final blow.

"Okay, Laura, that's enough," a rough, male voice said. The speaker, a male lilty who was a few years older than the female, walked to his partner and ordered, "Finish it off already."

Laura, the female lilty, whirled around and glared at the male who dared to intrude on her fight. "Do not tell me what to do, Kelith! I can handle this!"

Kelith, the male lilty, growled lowly, but the growl quickly turned into a gasp. "Look behind you!"

Not entirely sure on whether to believe him or not, Laura was hesitant to do so. But she was broken out of her thoughts when she heard a scream of agony, which was obviously made by the goblin. She turned to see the monster fall backwards, limp and unmoving. A spear was sticking out of the goblin's stomach. The owner of the spear, another male lilty, walked to the goblin and took back his spear.

"Well … That's what you get for not believing me," Kelith pointed out, amused.

"Yeah, Laura, what ever happened to trust?" the other lilty asked, laughs escaping from his mouth.

"Oh, shut up, Gale! Both of you!" Laura exploded angrily. She turned to Kelith and fumed, "This is all your fault, Kelith! If you hadn't distracted me and let me continue … Just because you and Gale used to be soldiers for Alfitaria doesn't make you any better than me!"

"Are you sure about that?" Kelith asked, crossing his arms.

"If you're so good, then why weren't you ever a soldier?" Gale continued.

"Because we moved before I was old enough, idiots!" Laura raged.

"I don't think you would've made it anyway," Kelith told his sister, smirking. "You're too weak."

"I am not!"

"Come on you two, that's enough for one night!" Gale interrupted. "If we stall any longer, than we won't be able to reach Oracle until morning. Then everyone will know that we had gone out again."

"They won't be so forgiving either," Kelith added. "Oracle's caravan sets out tonight."

"I wonder when they're going to choose new caravanners," Gale thought out loud.

"Who knows?" Kelith shrugged. "And as a side note, Laura, don't get too excited. You don't have a chance."

"Shut up, Kelith," Laura muttered.

Kelith and Gale laughed at their little sister, then the three lilties trudged back to the tiny town of Oracle, which they called home. They hoped that no one had noticed the chalice's disappearance, but they weren't so lucky … Someone had noticed the chalice's disappearance.

Even more unfortunate for the three lilties, the two worst possible people to realize the disappearance, had indeed done so.

∞∞∞

"The chalice is missing! The chalice is missing!" The young clavat ran throughout the town, panicked. He ran into his house and screamed, "Grandfather! Grandmother! It's gone!"

"What's all the ruckus?" an old, graying man with a long, white beard demanded of his grandson. "Why, Joseph, whatever is the matter?"

"Grandfather, the chalice is not where it's supposed to be!" Joseph, the clavat who had been panicking, responded. "Rayon and I've checked everywhere! We can't find it! Someone must have taken it!"

"Yeah! I bet that it was those two selkies again!" Rayon, a male lilty who wore a steel visor over his face, agreed angrily as he stepped to Joseph's side. "Who else could it have been? No one else is as bad as they are!"

"Now, now, Rayon, it's not right to assume that they are the ones to blame," Joseph's grandfather said disapprovingly. "Surely, they would not do that."

"B-but … Grandfather … What about last year?" Joseph protested.

"Yeah, elder! They've done it before!" Rayon agreed.

"I do not think that even they would make the same mistake twice," Joseph's grandmother answered as she made her way to her grandson, her grandson's friend, and her husband. "But perhaps we should ask them anyway?"

"It shouldn't do any harm," the elder answered after a long pause. "But, Joseph, you and Rayon should eat breakfast first. You both have a long day ahead of you."

Joseph and Rayon groaned, but listened to the elder's instructions and ate a small breakfast of fish, striped apples, gourd potatoes, and bannock bread. As soon as they were finished, they quickly dashed out of Joseph's house and made their way to the merchant's house.

The town's merchants were the only selkies in town. Oracle hadn't ever been the same since the recent addition of the selkie family. The merchant and his wife had five children, all of whom were in their teen years. It was reasonable to assume that older selkies wouldn't be as much of a problem as younger ones, but that was only half true, as the two biggest troublemakers in the family were the oldest child and the youngest child.

Rayon groaned loudly as his memory flashed to who he thought were the two most annoying selkies to ever have lived. He was remembering last year, when the two annoying selkies had stolen the crystal chalice and hidden it the day the caravan was to leave.

∞∞∞

The two most annoying selkies to ever have lived were not always bothering the people of Oracle. In fact, they were being rather peaceful at the moment.

The young selkie yawned and stretched while adjusting his bandanna. To him, Oracle was so boring! And he felt as if the townspeople were annoying too. They always seemed to be in such a good mood. But more than that, the young selkie hated the glares that the townspeople always gave him and his family. That was something he wouldn't tolerate. His oldest brother felt the exact same way as he did. So, to make things more "interesting," the two selkies often caused problems around Oracle, trying to provoke an angry reaction from the villagers. And it worked too! Unfortunately, the villagers were too dense to see that it were only two selkies who were the troublemakers and disliked the whole family.

_But that's what they get when they mess with us,_ the young selkie thought, closing his eyes and trying to fall asleep.

"Okay, where is it?"

The selkie opened his eyes and saw his two of his three least favorite people in Oracle: Joseph, the elder's son, and Rayon, Joseph's best friend. The selkie closed his eyes again and said, "Where's what? Why are you asking me?"

"Don't play dumb, Kiyhua," Rayon snapped. "Remember what you and Yiehua did last year? You really think that we'd trust anything that you guys say after that?"

"Hey, who's talking about me?" Yiehua asked, stumbling out of his house. Yiehua was an older selkie with short light blue hair held in a purple bandanna. He was met with Joseph's scowl and Rayon's glare. Yiehua sighed. "Now what did I do?"

"They're talking about last year," Kiyhua, the younger selkie, answered.

"Hey, I remember that!" Yiehua said, his eyes lighting up. "But why bring that up?"

"They think we did it again," Kiyhua responded.

Yiehua rolled his eyes. "Well, it wasn't us this time."

"Oh, it wasn't?" Joseph scowled again. "This isn't funny! The caravan leaves tonight! It was a little funny last year, but it's not funny twice!"

"I didn't take it, I swear!" Kiyhua retorted defensively. "How could I have? I was hacking the farmer family's fields!"

"And I was sleeping," Yiehua added.

"You low-life pieces of—"

"Joseph? Rayon? What's the problem here?" a female lilty wearing a white hat and a white dress asked, walking to Joseph and Rayon. She turned her head and saw Kiyhua and Yiehua. She sighed. "What did those two do this time?"

"Nothing!" Yiehua spat.

"Oh … Laura!" Rayon cried, sounding distracted and nervous. "Err … Well … These two idiots pulled a fast one on us and stole the chalice again!"

"Really?" Laura blinked a few times before adding, "Sorry, but my brothers and I were fighting goblins again. And we hoped that we would be able to avoid any problems."

"O-oh! T-that was you three?" Rayon stammered for a few seconds before he was able to get a coherent response out. "Oh, o-okay. You-you and your brothers wouldn't do anything bad, uh, heh, heh?"

"Hey lover's boy!" Kiyhua's annoyed yell snapped the nervous lilty out of his dreamy thoughts. "Don't you owe us an apology?"

"What apology?" Rayon spat.

"Well, isn't it normal for people to apologize when they've accused someone of doing something that they didn't do?" Yiehua retorted.

Joseph sighed and answered, "Well …"

"Don't!" Rayon grabbed Joseph's arm. "We don't need to apologize to the likes of them! Not one bit!"

"Ooh, I'm hurt," Kiyhua said sarcastically. "Right here." He put a hand over his heart.

"You don't have one," Rayon insulted.

Laura gave Kiyhua a disgusted glare and added, "Besides, those two will probably do something the minute we leave."

Joseph glared at Laura, exasperated. "Now, Laura, you say _you're_ the one who took the chalice …?"

The three unwelcome visitors, who were also, coincidentally, Kiyhua's three least favorite people in the world, left the selkies alone as they argued amongst themselves, Yiehua asked Kiyhua, "Hey, you feel like going through the alchemist's potion supply?"

"Don't want to," Kiyhua said in a low, pained voice, one that no one had ever heard him use before. His eyes were clouded over with pain.

Yiehua saw that Kiyhua was hurt by Rayon's comment, and decided not to press his suggestion. "Neither do I. I'm going to take a nap."

∞∞∞

While Kiyhua sulked and Yiehua slept, the family of clavat farmers, whose fields had been torn up by Kiyhua a few hours earlier, had just discovered the aftermath of the selkie's prank.

"All that hard work for nothing," a male clavat complained, kicking the dirt lightly. He brushed his bangs behind his headband and continued, "Man! Not again!"

"I agree with you," a clavat girl agreed, brushing dirt off her brown dress. "It was bad enough last time!"

"Kiyhua and Yiehua strike again," another female clavat, an older one, growled. "If I ever get my hands on those two, I'll …"

"You'll do what, Alyssa?" a little clavat girl inquired innocently, tilting her head to one side.

Alyssa, the oldest of the four clavats, shook her head and said, "Oh, forget about it. We better clean up our yard. Mother and Father are going to be upset enough, hearing that our fields are ruined. We don't want them to see this mess."

Her three siblings agreed with her and they worked vigorously to clean their field. About an hour had passed before Alyssa approved of the cleaned field.

"You're hard to please, Alyssa," the male clavat remarked.

Alyssa glared at him. "No comment from you, Cody! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to the merchant's house. Let's see if I can catch those boys at home …"

When Alyssa was disappeared from sight, Cody whispered, "Bianca, I think that she's going to strange them," to the clavat wearing the brown dress.

"I agree, but don't let Lissa hear what you said!" Bianca warned, glaring wearily at her little sister.

"Cody, Bianca, what are you two talking about?" Lissa, the youngest of the four, questioned curiously.

"Um … Nothing! Nothing!" Bianca said quickly. "Um … Why don't you play with the moogles?"

"Oh, I want to play with the moogles!" Lissa said, jumping excitedly and clapping. "Can I? Can I?"

"Well, the moogles are in the mood for some company," a deep, slightly echoing female voice said. "Now would be a good time to play with them."

"Oh! Naruti! Hi!" Cody said, his voice a bit shaky. He tried to brush some dirt off his clothes in vain as he added, "How are you doing?"

Naruti, a female yuke who was wearing a pink dress and a helm with a heart on it, stared at Lissa as the clavat bounded off to the moogle's nest before answering, "Well, I've just made a miraculous breakthrough on healing potions! I wanted to tell you first."

"Wow! How great!" Cody said, jumping a bit in admiration. "You have to tell me everything about it!"

"Well, I was able to …"

Bianca just shook her head and groaned slightly, knowing that she was forgotten by her brother and her brother's crush. She meandered away, lost in her thoughts. Cody, for some odd reason, was entranced with magic, which was quite rare for any race other than the yukes. Once Naruti started talking about her magic, there was no way to get her to stop. Bianca never understood magic and always preferred to sit out of those conversations.

∞∞∞

While Cody and Naruti chattered away about magic, Alyssa had stomped to the merchant's house, ready to give someone a piece of her mind. She had almost reached the selkies' house when a voice called out to her, "Alyssa! What are you doing here?"

Alyssa turned to the speaker and saw a female selkie around her age standing a few paces away from her. The selkie had light blue hair that was pinned up with a huge clip. She had a friendly smile on her face, but there was a troubled look in her eyes, almost as if she knew that Alyssa was here to complain.

"Oh, Leahua, just the person I wanted to see," Alyssa said with fake sincerity and glided towards the selkie. "I just wanted to tell you something. Something important." Alyssa's face suddenly twisted into a frown and she screamed, "Your stupid brothers wrecked our yard for the fifth time!"

"They did what?" Leahua, the selkie, gawked at the angry clavat standing in front of her and responded, "Jeez, I'm sorry, really I am, Alyssa! I'd stop them if I could, but they won't listen to me, I'll tell you that much!"

"Well, there has to be something that you can do!" Alyssa responded irritably. "Can't you just knock some sense into them, literally? Or get Zenhua to do it? Do something, Leahua!"

"Whoa, never heard a clavat suggesting violence before!" Leahua said defensively.

"Well, just tell your brothers that they got lucky this time!" Alyssa snapped. "I swear, if I had seen either one of them here, then I would've strangled them!"

Leahua glanced over Alyssa's head to see a sulking Kiyhua walking towards them, and knew that she had to get Alyssa to leave, fast. Leahua thought quickly, then blurted out, "Well, I'll be sure to tell them how lucky they are. Uh … I have to do something. Can we talk about this later?"

Alyssa didn't notice Leahua's panicked tone and simply answered, "Sure, sure."

"Come on, girl! Get!" Leahua said in a hurried and nervous voice. She hoped that Alyssa didn't notice. "I'll come over to your house in a bit, okay? Wait for me, don't come here."

"You're really weird, Leahua," Alyssa said, sighing. "Are all selkies like you and your family?"

The selkie girl decided to ignore that question and told Alyssa to get to her own house. When Alyssa was out of sight, Leahua growled and waited for Kiyhua to approach her. When he was standing next to her, Leahua said, "Guess who that was."

"Alyssa," Kiyhua said monotonously.

"You bet it was," Leahua said angrily. "And you're lucky I got her away in time! But next time, I'll just let her strangle you!"

"There won't _be_ a next time," Kiyhua answered.

Leahua was shocked. She looked down at Kiyhua's face, and was even more shocked to see the disappointed look on his face.

"Hey, hey, hey! Hey! What is it with you two today? No arguing?" a male selkie who seemed to be about Leahua's age asked as he walked towards his siblings. He had light blue hair that came down to his shoulders. His purple bandanna, which usually kept his hair in place, was now wrapped around his neck. "What's up?"

"I'd like to know that, too," Leahua said, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow at Kiyhua.

Kiyhua looked hesitant at first, but then he muttered out, "Rayon says I don't have a heart."

Leahua and Kiyhua's brother looked shocked. But Kiyhua's brother burst out laughing just then.

"Stop laughing, Xiuhua! It's not funny for Kiyhua!" Leahua snarled, smacking Xiuhua over the head.

"Ha, ha, ha … Ow," Xiuhua said, rubbing his throbbing head. He glared at Leahua and said, "Leave me alone!" Then, he turned to Kiyhua and said, "That's it? That's _it?_ Rayon says that to me all the time! As does everyone else in Oracle, and do I look like I care?"

"Kiyhua's not like you, Xiuhua," another male selkie answered, striding towards his three younger siblings. "And for some of us, it hurts."

"Yeah, Zenhua, you're a big softie." Xiuhua stuck his tongue out at Zenhua.

Zenhua groaned and shook his head. "Look, Kiyhua, Rayon's just a jerk. We all know that. And lilties can't tolerate selkies. Who cares what he says? He doesn't even know you."

Kiyhua finally managed a smile. "Yeah … You're right."

Leahua nodded happily, glad to see that everything was back to normal. She heard footsteps in the distance just then and turned around to see who it was. "Oh, no, it's Alyssa. I told her to wait for me."

"Alyssa? Oh, no. I got to hide." Zenhua quickly ran in the opposite direction that Alyssa was coming from.

"He's scared of Alyssa?" Kiyhua asked, puzzled.

"Yes, he is." Xiuhua grinned cheerfully. "She mistook him for Yiehua and tried to throw him out in the miasma!"

"And how do you know this?" Leahua asked, giving Xiuhua an incredulous look.

"He told me."

Kiyhua and Leahua just gave their older brother a strange look.

"Wh-what?"

∞∞∞

Later that night, the whole village was gathered at the town's crystal to celebrate the departure of their caravan. Ironically, this hectic day was also the first day of the year, which meant it was time for the caravan to set out again. The three caravanners, Yuri, a female lilty with pure red hair and a white dress with pink spots, Ishaow, a male clavat wearing loose, black clothing and spiked bracelets and belts, and Yadin, a male lilty with more blond hair than red, who was wearing the traditional lilty armor, sat beside the elder as he told the story of their caravan's first departure.

Oracle didn't have a big population, as did many other towns and cities, did, so all the villagers were able to in the town square at the same time. Cody's parents and sisters were sitting on the steps of the town crystal. Joseph, his parents, and his two sisters were standing behind the elder. Joseph's father, the elder's son, stood next to the elder's wife, who was his mother. Ishaow's parents and three younger sisters were standing next to Ishaow. Ishaow's father was standing next to Joseph's mother, who was his sister. Two other clavat families were standing in the crowd, listening intently to the elder. Both families had a daughter, who were best friends. Tatiana, who had long, brown hair, and Ami, a clavat who always wore white robes, had their eyes open wide, listening with interest.

Laura was standing away from her parents and her brothers. She had pushed her way to the front of the crowd to have a better look at the caravanners. Rayon had also walked away from his father and his pregnant mother, but his glance was on Laura. Yuri's parents and sister and Yadin's parents were standing behind their caravanner. The three other lilties in Oracle—Jason, Miri, and Ken—were standing next to Tatiana's family, whispering amongst themselves. Jason's parents were aggravated at the fact that Jason was not interested in the story of the caravan. Miri's parents were wondering if their son, Miri's older brother, would be able to come to the festival. Ken's parents were bored, pretending to listen to the elder. Jason, a male lilty who proudly showed off his red, blond, and green hair, whispered to Miri, who never wore anything on her head. Ken, who wore a bucket over his head, ignored his two friends.

Naruti's parents were standing in the middle of the crowd. Naruti wasn't with them, though. In fact, Cody wasn't with his family, either. Rather, Naruti and Cody were standing away from the crowd, whispering about magic. Kiyhua's family was standing as far away from the crowd as possible.

"Now," the elder said, concluding the story of Yuri's caravan, "as reliable as Yuri, Ishaow, and Yadin may be, they will not be with the caravan forever. We do not know when they will quit for certain. But it is time that we start choosing new caravanners to prepare ourselves for that day."

The crowd cheered loudly at this announcement. Laura was cheering the loudest out of everyone. She had always wanted to go on the caravan. The elder just had to see her training! He had to! She couldn't think of anyone more fit for the job that she was!

The elder accepted the list that his wife handed to him. He looked down at it and said, "I have chosen the possible candidates for our caravan. All of you know very well that the minimum number of caravanners is two and the maximum number is eight. I have been keeping an eye on the young fighters of this village. I just hope that I won't cause too much disappointment." He chuckled gently as he added, "Of course, my grandson, Joseph, is a likely choice for this job, but not only him. I've seen his friend, Rayon, show some promise."

Rayon gasped loudly and everyone who was close enough to hear him laughed. Joseph motioned for Rayon to come up to the town's crystal, and he did so, embarrassed. The elder named all of his choices for future caravanners. Joseph, Rayon, Laura, Cody, Naruti, Jason, Miri, Ken, Tatiana, and Ami stood in front of the crowd. Joseph, Jason, and Ken waved to the villagers. Cody and Naruti called out to their families. Rayon was glancing uncomfortably at Laura, who was busy looking proud of the moment and giving her brothers a smug smirk. Miri was looking at the other finalists nervously.

"And we have one more caravanner than I've had my eye on," the elder said after the crowd and calmed down. This surprised everyone. Most new caravanners were between the ages of eleven and sixteen. Who else in town was between those ages? "I know that many of you may not have faith in him, but he is a promising fighter," the elder said. "My final choice for the new caravan will be Kiyhua."

The crowd gasped and turned to each other in a noisy babble. The other finalists shifted their glances towards each other nervously as they waited for the arrogant, bandanna-clad selkie to walk up to the podium. A few seconds passed. Nothing.

"Where _is_ Kiyhua!" Rayon shouted angrily, breaking the silence.

A few more seconds passed before Daen Lei, Kiyhua's father, finally said, "Well … He's not here. I guess."

Tatiana's eyes widened to the size of eggs. She had never met Kiyhua in person, but she had heard of his wrongdoings plenty of times. Ami, Miri, Cody, Naruti, and Jason had never met him either, but Ken, Rayon, Joseph, and Laura knitted their brows in exasperation and worry.

"He's not the only one absent," Noo Mee, Kiyhua's mother, added. "Yiehua's not here either!"

This meant very bad news for everyone. Just Kiyhua or Yiehua by himself was enough of a problem. Just thinking about what they would do when they were alone together was too terrifying to think about.

∞∞∞

Kiyhua and Yiehua had, true to everyone's expectations, gotten into trouble. But this time, they were _in_ trouble, not _causing_ trouble.

"Oh, man, this really sucks," Yiehua complained, grabbing his racket as hard as he could and look around uncomfortably.

"Well, we definitely didn't see this coming," Kiyhua agreed, hiding behind Yiehua and holding his own racket.

The two selkies hadn't expected to see a goblin walking into town, completely unaware of the danger it was getting itself into. They had disposed of it easily, but hadn't expected to be confronted by a horde of goblins.

"What now?" Kiyhua whined.

"We fight, duh," Yiehua answered, giving his brother an exasperated glare.

With that statement, Yiehua abruptly lunged at the goblins, his racket raised. Drawing it back, Yiehua let it strike a random goblin, knocking the monster into another goblin, then another one, then another one, until a section of the ring had broken. The two selkies ran out of the barricade and faced the tiny but aggressive monsters. Kiyhua waited until the goblins charged at him, then he smacked a goblin on the head as hard as he could, destroying it. Yiehua used his focus attacks to take out goblins from a safe distance. Kiyhua, seeing that Yiehua's technique was more effective than his own, copied his brother. The selkies swiftly eliminated the monsters with their technique.

"What? Can't come up with something on your own?" Yiehua teased.

Kiyhua felt his cheeks turning red. "Oh, shut up!"

Yiehua laughed. "I win. Now let's get these guys!"

The two separated and charged at the goblins, using their melee attacks to deal with the ten remaining goblins. Kiyhua had taken down three easily, but then he heard his brother yell out. One of the goblins had stabbed Yiehua in the back with its cutlass. Kiyhua quickly pushed two goblins out of the way and whacked them to their demise, then gave the goblin that had attacked his brother a swift clock to the head, causing it to fall. Suddenly, he felt something cold pierce him in the back. He had forgotten about the last goblin.

"Why can't you just die!" Kiyhua shot a focus attack at it, causing it to shriek and fall to its death. That focus attack had used up whatever bit of energy he had left and he let himself fall unconscious.

∞∞∞

The first thing that Kiyhua saw when he regained consciousness was Xiuhua and his father hovering over him. The bright torchlight pierced his vision and he had to close his eyes again.

"Kiyhua's awake, at least, what a relief," Kiyhua heard his father say.

When Kiyhua opened his eyes again, letting them adjust to the fiery light, he noticed that he was covered by a thick, wool blanket. He glanced around the crowd to see the elder and almost all of the other parents talking nervously. Yuri, Ishaow, and Yadin were standing away from the crowd, although in sight, at different places in the village. No doubt that they were guarding the village from any more sieges.

"I … I can't believe this happened," Joseph said, his voice shaking. "How could those goblins have gotten in here?"

"Hey, at least we're safe," Rayon assured him. "Only damage that's been done is to those selkies, but they'll be up and causing havoc by tomorrow."

"Yeah," Joseph agreed.

"Rayon! That's not nice!" Tatiana cried.

"What? Those two are too stubborn to be kept down for long!" But deep inside, Rayon was worried for the two selkies, although he refused to admit that he did so.

Jason, Ken, Cody, and Naruti had been whispering amongst themselves, but they dispersed quickly, wandering back to their families. Laura kicked one of the goblins' dead bodies and muttered angrily to herself, "I missed all the action. I wish I had been there. Those selkies aren't fit to be on the caravan."

Kiyhua tried to tune out the loud talking around him. It was giving him a headache. He tried to sit up, but Xiuhua pushed him back down with one hand easily. "Stay put, because if you don't, then I'll be in trouble!"

"Hah! Whatever," Kiyhua muttered, pulling the blanket up to his chin. "I don't feel like going anywhere anyway. Hey, Xiuhua, where's Yiehua?"

Xiuhua stood up abruptly just then. "I'm leaving. Don't go anywhere."

"Hey! You didn't answer my question!" Kiyhua shouted at his brother.

"He's not dead," was Xiuhua's terse reply as he quickly walked away from his brother.

Kiyhua was confused and worried, and he struggled to sit up so he could question Xiuhua further. That was when his mother decided to check on Kiyhua. He didn't see her coming.

"Kiyhua …" she said warningly when she saw her youngest child struggling to stand up.

Kiyhua sulked back down. After a long, uncomfortable pause, he said, "Mom … Where is Yiehua?"

Noo Mee seemed hesitant to answer, but her reply was dodgy, as Xiuhua's had been. She said, "I … have to see how he's doing now."

Noo Mee walked away from Kiyhua, but he barely noticed. Although he was not as smart as Naruti, he knew when to take a hint. And the message was clear: Yiehua was not dead … yet. He must have been attacked badly, and he must be close to death now. Kiyhua wanted to see him, but he could barely move. He sulked for a while, then he made his decision. He would not change his mind.

"I am going out with that caravan tomorrow," he told himself. "And I will annihilate every single goblin there is out there. Mark my words!"

As he drifted off to sleep, Laura glared at him, her arms crossed. She had heard him and she knew. "Cody … Naruti … I need to speak with you two for a moment …"

ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΪΫ

A/N: See? Not much change. It's longer, though. So, is it good? Or does it still suck?


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: The newly revised chapter 2 of Oracle Chronicles! I like this one better than the other one.

ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΪΫ

Chapter 2

Kiyhua tried his best to ignore the pain in his side. The goblin's cutlass had struck him harder than he had thought it had, and it hurt every time he took an intake of breath. But he knew that he could not turn back now. He remembered very clearly that his parents had told him to stay put and to not go anywhere. He would be in so much trouble if they caught him now. In addition, he wanted to stay with Yiehua until Yiehua got better. But unfortunately for Kiyhua, when he put his mind on something, nothing was going to change it.

_If I leave now, then my parents will probably be too relieved to see me when I get back to be angry,_ Kiyhua mused to himself silently. _And Yiehua will be better … I know it. It's his job to get better … Mine to get rid of the goblins that did this to us!_

His backpack was getting heavier by the second and he felt like falling asleep in the middle of the path. His sight was getting cloudier and he was feeling drowsier by the minute. But the caravan was just in sight! All he had to do was jump in and get out of town before anyone noticed that he was gone—not that they would care. They'd care about the caravan, but not him. Kiyhua, sniggering at that thought, made his way to the caravan. But just before he reached it, his knees gave out and he collapsed to the ground. He prepared himself for the feeling of hitting the hard ground—

—only to feel two large furry hands grab him right before he fell, and another hand around his waist and shoulders. Kiyhua shook his head clear of the dizziness and muttered softly, "Thanks."

That was when he suddenly became attentive. Someone had just saved him from hitting the ground. Someone with large furry brown and white hands. And that person with the large hands had a friend with normal-looking hands … There were only two people that fit that criteria.

"Naruti! Cody! Get your hands off me!" Kiyhua ordered, slipping out of their grips. He tripped backwards and fell on the ground in a sitting position. "Wh-what are you guys doing here?"

Naruti and Cody both put their hands on their hips and both answered simultaneously with a smirk, "Hanging around."

"Yeah, but why here!" Kiyhua spat out.

Suddenly, he heard a sardonic and arrogant laugh behind him. An exasperated chill ran up his spine as he turned to face Laura. She smirked at him arrogantly.

"You set them up for this, didn't you, bucket head?" Kiyhua snapped.

"I sure did," Laura answered, crossing her arms. "They were too happy to agree. You're not going to steal this caravan. And if you do go out, which I just might let you do, then the three of us are to accompany you."

Kiyhua snorted and turned away from her. "Says who?"

"Well, for one thing, you're injured," Cody said, poking Kiyhua in the back gently. However, it sent the selkie falling to the ground, trying his best not to wake up the entire town with a pain-filled shriek of pain. "See? Now, imagine what a goblin could do to you."

"And second of all, do you think we're stupid enough to send you off with a caravan by yourself?" Laura continued. "You'd probably drive off to who-knows-where and let the rest of us die off from the miasma!"

After finally getting over his pain, Kiyhua stood up and glared down at Laura. "Hey! I'm not going to leave everyone else to die from the miasma! Nuh-uh! If I was going to do that, then I'd bring my family with me!"

"Oh, you would?" Laura asked, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrows.

"Of course I would!" Kiyhua shouted back. "Oh, wait, I forgot. You think I'm _heartless."_

"Okay you two, enough," Naruti interrupted. "If we're going to do this, then we better do it now."

Cody agreed with Naruti, then he turned to Laura and asked, "Hey, I've been wondering … Why'd you ask Naruti and me to come along with you anyway?"

Laura turned to face him. "Simple. Balance."

The other three just stared at her blankly. Even Naruti, the wise one. "Say what?"

The lilty sighed and shook her head. "I'm a lilty, and I'm the best suited for melee combat and close-distance attacks. Cody is a clavat and he's pretty much useful for any type of fighting—magic, long-distance, or close-distance. Naruti, the yuke, is wise in the ways of the world and magic. And, as much as I hate to admit it, Kiyhua, the useless selkie, may not be so useless because he's fast and good at long-distance attacks, such as the selkie's focus attacks."

When Laura finished talking, she crossed her arms and sized up her future teammates' expressions. Cody didn't seem to care too much about what she said. Kiyhua looked peeved.

"Laura," Naruti said.

"Yeah?" Laura asked, a smug look on her face.

"You talk too much."

Kiyhua blurt into laughter at this statement. He was starting to get really obnoxious. But when Laura raised her spear to strike him upside the head, Kiyhua rolled out of the way, then slapped his hand over his mouth to avoid screaming out in pain. He had accidentally landed right on his wound. After a few seconds, Kiyhua managed to choke down the scream that threatened to escape.

Laura laughed arrogantly. "Serves you right!" she said. "Now come on! We better get out of the town before anyone sees us!"

Cody and Naruti nodded briskly. Cody took his and Naruti's backpacks and stuffed them in the back of the caravan. Laura grabbed the crystal chalice from its place on the podium and put it in the back of the caravan. Naruti helped Kiyhua get back up to his feet, but he emotionlessly refused her help. He did let her help him into the caravan, however. Laura took her place at the reigns, and Naruti and Cody sat in the back. Kiyhua went to sleep inside the caravan.

"Well, it's time to hit the road!" Laura said to her teammates in a no-nonsense voice. To herself, she muttered, "Finally! My dream come true!"

The four hijackers quickly left Oracle as quietly as they could, unaware of the consequences their actions would have a few hours later when Yuri, Ishaow, and Yadin awoke to find the caravan and the chalice missing …

∞∞∞

"Kiyhua is such an idiot," Joseph grumbled angrily, pacing in front of the town's crystal. He couldn't see a thing in the dark, so he occasionally bumped into his friends, who growled every time he did so. Joseph ignored them, muttering to himself, "Now our town is doomed! What'll we do? We can't send out another caravan, because our spare chalice is cracked and we don't have another caravan!"

"Hey, don't worry so much!" Rayon said when Joseph bumped into him again. He had been silent while Joseph worried, but felt that it was his duty to calm his worried friend down. "Laura is with him! And you know that she won't let that idiotic selkie ruin our town!"

"So are Cody and Naruti," Miri pointed out. "I think they're more responsible than the crazy selkie."

Rayon gave Miri an exasperated look. "Right. The three of them are with him. They won't let him mess up our town!"

"You worry too much, Joseph," Ken agreed.

"Yeah, but still …"

"But still nothing," Jason interrupted. "They'll be fine, Joseph. I'm sure that they know what they're doing. Even Kiyhua."

Miri simply scoffed and crossed her arms, turning away from Jason. Joseph sighed and sat down at the foot of the crystal. Rayon patted Joseph's back reassuringly but awkwardly. Ken just closed his eyes and tilted his head down. Jason sighed at his friends' attitudes toward Kiyhua. Sure, the arrogant selkie wasn't at the top of Jason's list of friends, but Jason felt that Kiyhua didn't mean to be such a hassle. Jason actually thought that Kiyhua was afraid. The lilty didn't know what Kiyhua would be afraid of, but he probably had a reason to act the way he did. He wished that the others would give Kiyhua a chance, too. But Joseph and Rayon didn't see him as a person, Tatiana and Ami were terrified of him, and Miri simply hated him. Ken didn't really seem to care about Kiyhua, but Ken didn't really care about anything.

"Man, it's cold tonight," Joseph murmured, hugging his legs to his chest in an attempt to get warm.

"What's a little cold?" Miri retorted arrogantly. "A caravanner can handle this."

"In case you haven't noticed, we're not caravanners yet," Joseph snapped back.

Jason sighed once more as Joseph and Miri squabbled. He, along with his four friends, had been awake for at least an hour. He and the others had been awake since Yuri, Ishaow, and Yadin stormed to Joseph's house, reporting that the caravan and the chalice were gone. A door-to-door search confirmed that Kiyhua, Laura, Cody, and Naruti were the only villagers who were not where they were supposed to be, sound asleep at home.

"Man, Jason, I kind of envy Tatiana and Ami right now," Rayon whispered to him. "I mean, they're fast asleep and they don't have to listen to Miri and Joseph argue."

Jason nodded in agreement. "I wish we could all get back to sleep."

"Well, I think—"

"Children?" Joseph's grandfather's voice pierced the tense atmosphere and silenced Joseph and Miri, who ceased their arguing. The elder limped towards the five caravanners-to-be and inquired, "What brings all of you up at this hour? It's nearly midnight! You should all be asleep."

"We can't sleep while the chalice and caravan are gone!" Joseph retorted.

"They woke me up and dragged me here," Ken replied emotionlessly.

"The town is doomed," Joseph moaned, ignoring Ken.

"Yeah, that selkie has no idea what he's doing," Miri agreed. "And I'm sure that Laura, the clavat, and the yuke are pretty much lost, too."

Rayon struck Miri with an agitated glare once Miri mentioned Laura's name. How dare she badmouth his love!

The elder coughed. "Now, now, Miri, we do not go around questioning other warriors' skills. I'm sure that they'll be back. But for now, you should all be asleep. We'll settle matters tomorrow."

"Yeah, can we go to sleep?" Jason retorted.

"Fine, fine," Joseph responded, sighing. "We'll talk in the morning guys, is that okay with you all?"

"Yeah," they all answered in unison.

"Besides, we may be able to involve Tatiana and Ami in the discussion," Jason pointed out.

The others mumbled in agreement sleepily. Their prominent thoughts were no longer on their missing caravan, but rather, sleep.

∞∞∞

As Joseph, Rayon, Jason, Miri, and Ken shuffled back to their houses to sleep for the night, another group of villagers went to the giant crystal to sort out their thoughts of the four hijackers' departure.

"Man, Kiyhua, why must you be so troublesome?" Xiuhua asked the sky, hitting his head on the crystal rhythmically. "You're such a pain in the butt."

Xiuhua sighed and leaned back on the crystal. Today had been a busy day for him and the last thing he wanted was to hear about Kiyhua's disappearance. Oracle hated the selkie family already. What good would that hopeless brother of his accomplish by taking off with the caravan? Xiuhua wanted to beat some sense into Kiyhua. But that would be impossible, unless he ran after the caravan or something.

"What are you doing here?" a deep, rough, feminine voice demanded of him.

The teenage selkie quickly turned around to see who had spoken to him, and relaxed when he saw that Alyssa and Gale were standing behind him. He would prefer to face them. He'd choose to deal with them over his siblings, his parents, or the elder's family. Or Kelith.

"Well? Aren't you going to answer us?" Gale asked, crossing his arms.

"Why? You already know why I'm here," Xiuhua retorted, closing his eyes and smashing his head against the crystal once more.

Alyssa raised an eyebrow. "If you keep doing that, you're going to get brain damage."

"Wow, I didn't know you cared," Xiuhua replied sarcastically.

"Stop acting like that," Gale said, sitting down on the steps of the crystal stand. "It's why everyone hates you so much."

"Funny, I thought everyone hated me for existing," Xiuhua snapped back. "But … I guess it's a start."

Gale and Alyssa stared at each other. Xiuhua was being irrational, and they expected that. But he was also admitting how he felt. That was something that neither of them had expected. Maybe … maybe Xiuhua wasn't just a selkie. Alyssa and Gale never considered the fact that Xiuhua and his family might be affected by how the town behaved towards them. Maybe it was their fault too…?

_Yes, that must be it,_ Gale thought, feeling a stab of guilt. _I can't really say that I've treated any of them like people … Even before they started to cause trouble, I didn't like them much._

_Okay, so I was wrong about selkies,_ Alyssa vented to herself. _But I sure as heck am not going to admit it first!_

Silence reigned over the three teenagers.

"Look … It's not really a good idea to argue while our younger brothers and sister are out there doing who-knows-what," Gale finally spoke up. "Let's just … Well, I don't know, try to act more civil towards each other."

Alyssa groaned. "I'll try."

"Wow … There's hope for you two," Xiuhua answered.

Gale and Alyssa had fake smiles plastered across their faces as they inwardly thought, _This is going to be a disaster!_

Xiuhua's smile was also fake, too, as his thoughts said, _This sucks! I have to be civil to them?_

∞∞∞

While their friends and family worried about them, Kiyhua, Laura, Cody, and Naruti were making good time. They had gotten away from Oracle and Alfitaria as fast as they could. They had hit a crossroad an hour ago, and headed right to collect myrrh at Tida.

Laura was the only one of the four caravanners to be awake. She was completely tired, and she had a hard time keeping her eyes open. It was well past midnight and she felt like falling asleep at the reins. But she knew that she couldn't stop now. If Oracle sent out a search party to look for them, no doubt that they would be caught. And she had a feeling that all of Oracle knew that they were gone. Yuri, Ishaow, and Yadin liked to get up early and leave town in the middle of the night.

She thought about the strange team of warriors that she assembled. She knew that the fact that there was one member of each tribe was pure coincidence. Yes, Laura had lied to Cody, Naruti, and Kiyhua. The reason she took them along was not for balance—she simply couldn't think of anyone else.

Truth be told, Laura had great doubt about Cody's fighting skills. She had never seen in fight, as she always saw him working on his family's farm, or talking about magic with Naruti. But Laura knew that Cody was a better fighter than Tatiana and Ami, who probably weren't even fighters at all. Laura had thought about asking Joseph, but that thought lasted only for a second. Joseph was the elder's grandson, and he would never agree to Laura's crazy scheme. Even worse, he would tell his father and grandfather about it.

Naruti was a definite shoo-in because there were no other yukes in Oracle, and none of the other probable caravanners had magic skills that could match up to Naruti's. If Kiyhua hadn't had the idea to take the caravan, and if the new caravan had been assembled, Laura had no doubt that Naruti would make it. Although Naruti was only able to cast basic spells—Fire, Thunder, Blizzard, Gravity, Clear, Stop, Slow, Haste, and Cure—she was a fast learner and Laura knew that she would be able to learn the advanced levels of these spells fast. The yuke was also learning Holy and Life, two spells which would definitely come in handy in the future.

Kiyhua who had also been named as eligible for the caravan, was quite an enigma. Laura had never seen Kiyhua fight, but seeing how he and Yiehua couldn't even take down five or six goblins by themselves, Laura was staring to doubt his skills. But there wasn't any possible way of changing his mind. If there was one thing Laura knew about selkies, it was that they were persistent. Besides, selkies, were swift, tricky, agile, and skilled at the focus attack. Laura knew that those skills would be useful sometime. Also, if things got really bad, she could always use Kiyhua as a shield. That thought made her smile less. She didn't like Kiyhua, but she did have morals, darn it! She hoped that nothing Kiyhua said or did would make her that mad.

And as for herself, well, Laura liked to think of herself as the best fighter in Oracle. She trained every day, along with her brothers, and took pride in her skills. Although she was somewhat of a show-off in her skills, she wouldn't try to make someone look stupid in public like that no-good Miri. She was proud of her heritage, unlike Ken who never cared about anything. And she took more pride in her skill than Jason, who was always nonchalant about his strength. The only one Laura felt as if she could compare herself to was Rayon. But he always acted like jelly whenever he was around her. And it annoyed her. Besides, he was Joseph's best friend. Laura didn't know where his loyalty lay: to her, or to Joseph. Probably Joseph.

Letting out a big yawn, Laura rubbed her eyes and stared up the hill that the papaopamus had stopped at. They had to go up it. Up the hill lay the old miasma-infested town of Tida, their first destination.

∞∞∞

Morning came by rather quickly in Kiyhua's opinion. The first thing that he felt was the sun's rays piercing his eyes. He rolled over and covered his eyes with his left hand and tried to sit up. Much to his delight, his chest and stomach no longer ached with pain,

"Ha, I knew it was nothing!" Kiyhua muttered to himself victoriously. "It was only a small stab wound. I knew that it'd pass."

"Morning, selkie," a cocky feminine voice said. Kiyhua cocked his head backwards and saw Laura standing there with her hands on her hips. "I'm sure you had a good sleep, huh?"

"Shut up, lilty." Kiyhua forced himself off the ground, although he wanted to stay on the ground and go back to sleep, and got into a standing position. The pain subsided. "And I'm guessing that you stayed awake all night, hm? All you lilties are the same."

The liltian warrior grabbed her spear and arched it over her head. "Look here, I've got my spear and I'm not afraid to use it! So watch your mouth when you're around me and me alone."

The selkie just scoffed and crossed his arms, retorting smugly, "Well, I'm not around you and you alone right now. The clavat and the yuke are also on this caravan, are they not?"

Once she realized that he was right, Laura responded simply by saying, "Well, they're asleep this very moment, so they don't count. Now listen up! I've never liked you and the bad name that you've been giving Oracle. And no one here's going to tell me how to deal with you. So you better start shaping up or else."

Kiyhua just tossed his head back with a scoff and leaned against the caravan wall, his left foot propped on the wall. After a short silence, he said, "All right, Miss All-Mighty Lilty. And can you use your mightiness and superior intellect to my puny, selkie mind to tell me where the heck we are?"

Laura ignored the selkie's sarcasm. "I knew it too well. You are clueless. We are at Tida, you bonehead, and we're collecting our first myrrh drop. After all, we can't let Oracle end up like this dump."

"Careful, I've heard of some caravanners being haunted by spirits of Tida." Both Kiyhua and Laura jumped, then drilled their glares on Naruti, who was now awake. Naruti continued as if Kiyhua and Laura weren't glaring at her. "I think that since Tida is a fallen city and none were able to escape, there would be many lost spirits."

"I'm not afraid of spirits!" Kiyhua answered arrogantly, glaring at the yuke who dared to question his courage.

"Neither am I," Laura added, standing up straight, also indignant that the pathetic yuke had the gall to imply that she, the great Laura, lacked bravery.

"Good, then I guess we're ready to go," Cody said. He was wearing the same friendly smile he always wore when they were back home. "So … We got a plan before tackling Tida?"

"Of course. I've got a few strategies, but I'll have to wait to see what we're facing before I can decide which is appropriate," Laura answered, grabbing her spear and putting on her gauntlets. "I'll fill you in on my strategic codes, so listen up. I'm only going to say them once."

Cody and Naruti nodded, smiling confidently and getting their equipment. But Kiyhua just scoffed and said, "Go ahead with your little … strategic plans. I'm just taking everything by myself head-on."

"Fine." Laura shrugged, and then put on a malicious smirk. "But I'm not going to explain to your family why you're dead when we get back to Oracle."

As Laura, Cody, and Naruti talked about battle strategies for Tida, Kiyhua took his racket in his hands and held it tight as he muttered, "They don't know the first thing about me … Who are they to judge? Those good-for-nothings … I'll show them that I'm not useless!"

ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΪΫ

A/N: So … How was it? Good? Bad? Okay? Tell me!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Okay, I know I've said that I won't work on this story for a while, but this story is officially off hiatus! I've gotten it all planned and such. So, well, cross your fingers and hope that this is good enough for your likings!

ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΪΫ

Chapter 3

A chilly breeze blew by as Kiyhua, Laura, Cody, and Naruti walked through the decayed gates of Tida. The once beautiful and lively town was now nothing more than a ghost town. The sky was tinted with a sick, green haze, which clouded the town in perpetual darkness, even during daylight. The houses in sight were decayed and in shambles, and the grass surrounding the houses was either dead or overgrown. A rocky path that was still as gray as it had been during Tida's age of prosperity led away from the gates and plunged deeper into the town.

"So … This is Tida …" Naruti said with a gulp.

"Ugh … I hate it here!" Cody wrinkled his nose.

"Come on, you babies!" Laura snapped, fixing Cody and Naruti with a glare. "It's still just like any other dungeon with myrrh. And the sooner we get the drop, the sooner we can get out of here!"

"I'm all for that," Kiyhua agreed, a nonchalant expression on his face. "I don't want to be here. I want to get to Goblin's Wall, destroy it, and get back home."

"Hey, hey! This isn't about you, you know," Cody told him crossly. "We need to get myrrh for Oracle!"

"Revenge needs to be your second priority," Naruti added. "I mean … We need to get the myrrh, or everyone in our town is going to die, anyway."

"So make yourself useful and scout ahead," Laura ordered Kiyhua, throwing a small object on a string to him. "And make sure you tell us about any monsters up ahead!"

Kiyhua caught the object easily and examined it. It was a tiny crystal necklace. He put the precious trinket in his pocket and retorted, "Well, fine. If it gets us out of here faster, then I will." He ran down the rocky path that led to the heart of Tida. As he jogged out of sight, he shouted back at his fellow caravanners, "Keep up!"

"Hey! We're not ready! Come back!" Cody hollered at him, but his demand went unheard. Cody sighed and murmured, "Selkies … Why do they have to be so fast and stubborn?"

"Well, I guess they have to be good at something," Laura responded. "Cody, get the chalice. We need to get moving."

"Right away, Madam Knight," Cody said sarcastically as he picked up the chalice. "Would you like me to polish your armor now?"

Laura glared at him. "Very funny."

"Guys, shouldn't we be trying to get myrrh, not fighting with each other?" Naruti inquired.

"Oh, yes, the myrrh." Laura released her right hand's grip on her spear and lowered it to her side. "Hey, selkie! Any monsters ahead!" she shouted to Kiyhua, although she didn't know if he could hear her.

"Well, there was a carrion worm and a gremlin!" came the reply. "But I already dispatched of them. With no help from you, almighty lilty."

Laura frowned. "That selkie has some nerve. You, clavat, take the rear. You can defend us from any assaults from the back. You, yuke, will stay between the clavat and me, and you will use spells to assist us. I'll cover the front, because I have the most fighting experience of all of us."

"You know, my name is Naruti," the peeved yuke said, crossing her arms. "I'm not simply a no-name yuke."

Cody groaned. "This is going to take forever. Can we just go?"

"Fine, then! Let's go!" Laura demanded, putting her hands on her hips.

The lilty, the clavat, and the yuke assumed themselves in the position that Laura had described. They swiftly made their way through the deserted pathway of Tida, following the rocky stone road.

"I … hate … this … town." Cody shivered.

"So do I," Naruti agreed, rubbing her hands together. She felt a little cold. "I don't like the atmosphere here."

"It's just a town," Laura insisted impatiently. "Now, do you see any monsters around here?"

"Well … no."

"No … Not y— Hey!"

Laura and Cody quickly averted their eyes to where Naruti's were. The three caravanners found themselves staring at a purple and dark blue plant monster and a gremlin. The two monsters spotted the Oracle-landers. The plant monster shot a fireball from its mouth and the gremlin moved in for the kill.

"Block it!" Laura shouted, running out of the fireball's range.

"Defend!" Naruti yelled, closing her eyes in concentration. Her body went transparent and the fireball passed through her body harmlessly.

"Aarghh!" Cody screamed, falling on his back. He had raised his shield to defend himself from the fireball that Laura and Naruti had avoided. The fireball had hit his shield and the impact had sent Cody sprawling backwards and on the ground. "That hurt!" he shouted, picking himself off the ground.

"Get up, clavat!" Laura yelled, raising her spear to strike at the gremlin. She brought it down on the monster's head … or she would've had the sneaky critter not evaded the strike. "This thing is definitely faster than a goblin …"

"Let me try." Naruti dropped the defensive spell and closed her eyes. "Cover me, okay?"

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Cody responded, running in front of Naruti with his shield raised. The plant had spat another fireball at her. Cody had blocked the attack with his shield. This time, he managed to stay on his feet. "That plant is bugging me. Time to take it down!"

"You do that!" Laura shouted to him, trying to catch the gremlin. "I'll take care of this thing here!"

The clavat nodded and charged at the plant. The creature was rooted to the ground and could not move to avoid any attacks. Cody brought his sword down on the plant monster, making it howl in pain. The plant monster then took a sharp intake of breath. Cody continued hammering away at it, unaware of the consequences that would come.

"Get out of there, clavat! It's going to spit poison at you!" Laura hollered to Cody, raising her gauntlet to protect herself from the bulb on the gremlin's head, which was aimed at her stomach.

"My name is Co— Did you say poison?" Cody asked, cutting his first sentence short.

"Yeah, I said poison!" Laura retorted.

Cody turned back to the plant monster, which had just exhaled, releasing poisonous fumes into the air. His eyes widened and he complained, "Oh, man!" He quickly covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve and stepped away from the plant, his shield raised to avoid any fireballs that might be sent his way. When the poison subsided, Cody screamed, "You're going down!" and slashed at the monster until it died. When it finally shrieked and collapsed, dead, Cody cheered, "All right! I defeated a monster!"

Meanwhile, Naruti, who had been concentrating on her spell, had almost gathered enough energy to cast it. A wave of blue energy encircled her. Naruti opened her eyes and yelled, "Slow!" as she released her spell and it hit the gremlin.

"Slow?" Laura and Cody repeated.

"The gremlin appeared to not have been affected by the spell, but when it charged at the three caravanners, it found its movements slow and sluggish.

"Ah, the slow spell …" Laura smirked evilly and raised her spear. The gremlin seemed to gulp as it tried to run, but Laura threw her spear at it and stabbed it in the stomach. She took her spear back and said, "Don't mess with the lilty."

"It's not dead yet," Naruti announced, a very bright and light blue wave of energy surrounding her. "Thunder!" she cried, letting the spell strike the gremlin.

"Yah!" Cody hollered, bringing his sword down on the gremlin, causing it to shriek. "Take that!"

"Die!" Laura raised her spear above her head and sliced the gremlin in half, finally killing the small but agile creature. She crossed her arms, gave her two teammates a smug look, and told them, "Well … That was all right, but we'll have to do better than that."

"I agree with you for once," Cody said, not bothering to retort against the arrogance in her voice. "That was too much work for just a gremlin and a plant monster."

Naruti nodded. "Yes, I agree. Gremlins, along with those plant-monster hybrids, are not the strongest of monsters. If it's too hard for us to take down those two monsters, then we will not be efficient at all."

"Maybe if Kiyhua helped," Cody suggested. "I mean, Yuri, Ishaow, and Yadin function as a group, not as a single person."

"Are you suggesting we need the selkie?" Laura interrogated, an irritated look spreading across her face.

"Well, I'm just saying that we might need teamwork," the clavat clarified.

"True …" Naruti said slowly.

Laura sighed. "Fine. Fine. We'll get the selkie to help us. We have to find him first, though."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go find him already!" Cody said.

The three caravanners nodded and advanced further into Tida. After walking a few paces, they realized for the first time that they were actually on a rock ledge that was raised several feet above the rest of Tida. Cody bent over to look down, but almost slipped and fell off the ledge. Luckily, Naruti was able to cast Stop on him and move him to safety.

"That was a close one!" Cody said once he was safely away from the ledge.

"Yeah, be careful!" Laura scolded.

Cody stuck his tongue out at Laura. "Stop acting like the boss of me!"

Naruti groaned loudly. "Can we _please_ just go already?"

Cody and Laura quit arguing and agreed with Naruti. The three of them walked down the ledge, determined not to be caught off guard when the monsters attacked. But the only monsters they saw were already dead. Kiyhua was standing next to the carcasses, a triumphant smirk on his face.

"Hey, you really shouldn't have run off like that!" Naruti berated him, putting her hands on her waist.

"Yeah," Laura agreed, crossing her arms and returning the selkie's smirk. "What if you got killed by a monster? Then what'd we have to tell your parents?"

"I appreciate your concern, _really,"_ Kiyhua replied in a tone that obviously showed that he didn't. "But I don't need you, or your help."

"Oh, come on!" Cody cried impatiently. "I'm not going to say something utterly stupid such as, 'why can't we all get along.' But why can't we at least _cooperate _while we're here?"

"Well, we _can't_ have cooperation if _certain_ people continue to run from his team." Laura sneered at Kiyhua.

Kiyhua sneered back. "And we can't have cooperation either if _certain_ people continue to act as if she's a higher life form than the rest of _her_ team."

Naruti sighed and shook her head. "This is _exactly_ what we're talking about! Now, we all know that we don't like each other—except for Cody and me. But that's not the point. The point is that we need to put our differences aside and _work together."_

Kiyhua and Laura just stared at Naruti as if she were speaking another language.

"Or," Cody spoke up, "we can all fail and never come back to Oracle, having fallen at Tida for the lack of teamwork. And, of course, doom our town."

"That is _not_ going to happen," Laura barked at Cody, "because _we_ are going to get the stupid myrrh and _we_ are going to get out of Tida and back to Oracle! I'm the strongest out of all of us, and I'm going to use my strength to whap anything that gets in my way!"

"You seriously think I'm going to fall now?" Kiyhua retorted, his hands gripping his weapon tightly. "Well, guess what? I'm going to show you all this: I'm not useless! I'll use my reflexes to guard us against surprise attacks, so prepare to eat your words!"

"Great!" Naruti piped up, excited that Cody had managed to drill some sense into Kiyhua and Laura's thick skulls. "And I'll be there, too! With magic!"

"And you need me to keep the balance, _that's_ obvious," Cody finished. "So let's get this show on the road!"

The four reluctant teammates hurriedly agreed to that and ran down the rest of the ledge that they had found themselves on, determined to retrieve the myrrh at Tida and leave the creepy town. Once they reached level ground again, they found themselves under attack by two carrion worms, a bomb, and a gremlin that were waiting at the foot of the ledge.

"Okay … who's got a plan?" Cody asked, holding his shield in front of his body and his eyes darting nervously from the monsters to his teammates.

"Me," Laura answered arrogantly, a smirk twitching at her lips as she eyed the monsters. "There are four of them and four of us. I'll take one of those carrion worms, and the yuke—I mean, Naruti—can provide magic and defense for me. Kiyhua can get that gremlin because they're both fast and annoying."

"Hey!" Kiyhua objected, displeased that Laura had called him annoying. He glared at Laura momentarily before charging at the gremlin.

"And Cody can get the bomb there," Laura concluded. "But watch out for the explosion that follows its defeat."

"I know _that!"_ Cody told Laura impatiently, giving her an annoyed glance and then striking out at the bomb with his sword.

Once the boys were gone, Laura and Naruti found themselves faced with the two large carrion worms. One of the worms inched towards the two girls and attempted to tackle them. Laura gave it a swift strike with her spear, leaving a deep cut on the creature's body. Naruti followed with a powerful fire spell that set the worm on fire.

"You might want to move, there's something brewing under you," Laura, as she dodged a fiery tackle from the burning worm, warned her teammate.

Naruti was confused for a moment, but when she looked down at her feet, she saw an electric blue ring of thunder forming under her. There was not enough time to dodge, but Naruti, being the quick thinker that she always was, defended herself by going intangible.

Meanwhile, Kiyhua was having a little trouble dealing with the gremlin. The monster was swift, much swifter than Kiyhua had expected it to be. The selkie brought his racket down on the gremlin, but the little monster had already dodged it and was behind him. The gremlin lashed the bulb on top of its head to strike Kiyhua, who had jumped out of the way in time.

"Kiyhua! Need some help?" Cody called to him, using his shield to fend off the bomb's attacks.

The young selkie gave his clavat teammate a glare. "Hmm … you think?" he shot back sarcastically. "Besides, I think you could use some help yourself!"

Cody laughed sheepishly. "Uh … yeah, I could …"

"Well, then, screw the lilty's plan, I've got one of my own!" Kiyhua jumped over the gremlin that was charging at him and ran to Cody's side.

"What are you—"

"I know what I'm doing!" Kiyhua interrupted Cody.

"All right, whatever you say," Cody sighed impatiently, lowering his shield and stepping back from the bomb's strike.

The selkie stood behind his clavat teammate, watching the gremlin out of the corner of his eye. Once he felt the monster was close enough, Kiyhua snatched Cody's sword out of the clavat's hand and use it to impale the bomb that was coming towards them for a tackle.

"Now, hold up your shield to defend us both from the bomb's flames!" Kiyhua ordered.

"Are you crazy?" Cody demanded of his teammate, incredulously glaring at Kiyhua. "My shield can't withstand the flames!"

"Just do it!"

With a heavy sigh, the clavat followed his selkie teammate's instructions. The gremlin that had been charging at Kiyhua reached its target, along with Cody, and prepared to strike. It wasn't too bright, however, as it was unaware that it was also charging right at the bomb, which was due to explode any second. When it did, it went in a grand explosion that burned the gremlin to a crisp and pelted the two Oracle caravanners with intense heat and light, even with the defense of Cody's shield.

"Is it over?" Cody asked himself once the heat and light died down. He opened his eyes and removed his arm from its place over his eyes. Once he was able to see, however, he was met with a disturbing sight. "Ah! M-my shield!"

"Wow, it's a light show all its own!" Kiyhua commented amusedly, absentmindedly glancing at the dead gremlin and bomb.

With another agonized shriek, Cody hurled his flaming shield to the ground and attempted to stomp the flames out. Once the fire was extinguished, though, parts of the shield were charred a smoky black and the already weak makeshift shield was even weaker than before.

"It's _just_ a stupid shield!" Kiyhua snapped at Cody when he saw the clavat getting slightly teary eyed over his ruined shield. "It was a pretty weak one, too."

"But …" Cody sniffed. "I made it myself!"

Kiyhua shook his head and sighed, disgusted by actions he didn't understand. "Quit your whining and let's get those worms that are bothering the girls, okay?"

"Fine." The clavat gave his shield another mournful glance, then tossed it aside as if it were junk, drew his sword, and followed Kiyhua as they charged towards the two carrion worms.

When the two male caravanners reached the girls, though, the worms had been dispatched of and the girls completely unharmed and standing next to a locked, wooden gate. Naruti was bending over one of the worms—the one that hadn't been burned—and was plucking its antennas out of its head. Laura was watching Naruti's actions with a disgusted look.

"Well, I guess you guys didn't need us after all," Cody finally said, scratching the back of his head.

"Of course we didn't!" Laura answered scornfully. "These worms were just easy picking! And …"—she turned to glare at Naruti condescendingly—"I have absolutely no idea _what_ she is doing."

"I'm collecting worm antennas," Naruti told Laura calmly.

"We can _see_ that," Kiyhua retorted, scoffing and crossing his arms. "Care to tell us why? Let me guess. It's because you're weird."

"No!" Naruti turned her head to glare at the less-than-sensitive twosome, Kiyhua and Laura, although they couldn't tell. Naruti continued, "I'm collecting worm antennas because they'll help craft new accessories that'll help us in our journey. I'm also sending some to my parents so they can experiment on them."

Laura shook her head. "I will never—and will never want to—understand yukes or alchemists."

Cody glared at his lilty teammate, an offended look mixed in with anger. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to know more about the world!" he told Laura.

"What _is_ there to know?" Kiyhua asked in response before Laura could answer. "There is miasma. It sucks. There are giant crystals. They lose their power after a year. There are myrrh trees. We need to get myrrh to power crystals." Kiyhua pounded the wooden gate in frustration. "There's _nothing_ to know!"

"There's always _something_ to know," Cody retorted. "But that's not the point right now. Where do we go from here?"

"One of the carrion worms that we were fighting dropped this key," Naruti answered, walking towards her teammates and holding a gray crescent-shaped key in her right hand, the worm antennas in the other. "There's a pedestal right there, by the gate. I think functions as a keyhole."

"Then what are we waiting for? Give me that!" Laura snatched the strangely shaped key out of Naruti's feathery hands and stumbled towards the pedestal, finding it hard to walk with an oversized key in her arms, especially with her short stature. She stood on her tiptoes and let the key fall into the pedestal. The gate creaked open by itself.

"Whoa … creepy …" Cody remarked.

"Well, come on!" Kiyhua shouted impatiently, pointing his weapon at the others. "I'd rather not stay in this ghost town longer than I have to, so let's get the myrrh and split!"

"I too tire of this desolate, abandoned town," Naruti concurred, raising her hand gracefully in agreement. "Let us continue."

"All right! Let's do this!" Cody declared, raising his sword in the air and waving it triumphantly.

"Humph … then we better get moving, should we?" Laura smirked at the others arrogantly, but the smirk quickly disappeared as Laura gripped her spear in her hands and glared at the open door.

The four caravanners took a deep breath, dispelling all of their worries, and walked into the heart of Tida.

ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΪΫ

A/N: This chapter got updated, and I think it's better now than the previous one. More action, more dialogue, plus more character interaction.


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